The Poultry Biosecurity Program was created to help the BC industry develop enhanced on-farm biosecurity programs and an emergency response program that can be immediately activated to prevent a detected outbreak from spreading.

Funding is available for projects that address the following key activity areas identified in the Poultry Industry Biosecurity/Emergency Response Strategic Plan:

• Implement enhanced bio-security protocols
• Develop an emergency response management plan that links to the provincial FADES plan
• Develop an effective and comprehensive risk management program

The Farmed Animal Disease Program (FAD) provides funding to the BC livestock and poultry industry to invest in planning, preparedness, prevention, and mitigation for federal or provincial regulated diseases or significant emerging farmed animal diseases.

The Farmed Animal Disease Program (FAD) is a three-year, up to $5M program funded by the Government of BC through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (AF) and delivered by IAF.

The program provides up to $250,000 for planning projects, and up to $500,000 for preparedness, prevention and mitigation projects. All projects can begin on or after June 23, 2023 and continue for up to 24 months in duration. Retroactive approval of costs incurred prior to project approval will not be considered. All projects must be completed no later than March 31, 2026. Projects may/will receive compensation for up to 100% of their eligible costs.

The Food Processing Growth Fund (FPG) supports projects in BC’s diverse value-added food processing sector to scale up operations to increase productivity, business opportunities and competitiveness.

The fund provides support for established food processors’ scale-up needs, including new or improved equipment, physical infrastructure, specialized research and development expertise, product development, and new innovative processes and systems, business planning, resource training and technical expertise.

Projects may receive from $50K to $1M in cost-shared funding for infrastructure, equipment, and training projects, depending on their activities and budgets.

The Perennial Crop Renewal Program supports producers to remove unproductive, diseased, or unmarketable cultivars and to adopt growing systems that are better suited to environmental conditions and market demands.

The Perennial Crop Renewal Program (PCRP) is an up to $15M program funded by the Government of BC through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (AF) and delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC (IAF).

The Extreme Weather Preparedness for Agriculture Program  helps B.C. farmers and ranchers prepare for extreme weather events. The program will support up to $1.5 million in projects this year to help farmers conduct risk assessments and make infrastructure upgrades on their farms. Examples of eligible projects include:

• FireSmart Critical Infrastructures Assessments
• Farm building retrofits for wildfire preparedness
• Improved on-farm fuel storage and well protection for flood preparedness
• Reconfiguration of high-value feed storage for flood preparedness
• Farm building retrofits to improve cooling during extreme heat events
• Enhancing watering and shade to mitigate crop and livestock heat stress
• Infrastructure improvements to support tree and berry canopy cooling as well as shade and heat protection for harvested fruit, berry or vegetable crops

The AgriStability Program helps stabilize farm income by managing the risk of large income declines. Market disruptions, global uncertainty, drought conditions, floods and forest fires can all create financial challenges that affect your bottom line. The AgriStability program is based on the income and expenses of individual farms.

Beneficial Management Practices Program (BMP) – The Beneficial Management Practices Program (BMP) is funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The BMP Program is an on-farm cost-share incentive program to assist farm and ranch operations to mitigate some of the risks identified in the farm-specific Environmental Farm Plans (EFPs). To be eligible to apply you must have a valid EFP. Applications are currently being accepted and will close August 10th.

Eligible projects include:

• Waste management
• Air quality control
• Emissions control
• Soil and riparian integrity
• Water quality
• Environmental impacts

Food Business Refresh – free program to help rejuvenate small-scale food processors through virtual workshops, one-to-one coaching, and more. The program is currently full, join the waitlist.

The Livestock Tag Reader Rebate program is funded under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. This program provides cost-share funding for the implementation of livestock tag readers (hand-held or panel readers), reader installation, related software, and related equipment training.

Employment support

Get youth working Province of BC – Grant –  The Program offers Employment Counselling, Job Entry Skills, Certificate Training, Paid Work Experience, Mentoring and Post Job Placement Support to eligible youth 17-29 years of age.  Employers that hire and train eligible youth and provide full-time sustainable employment are eligible for a negotiated Wage Subsidy incentive.

Go2HR Job Board – Job board – Go2HR has opened its tourism and hospitality-focused job board to include the agriculture and food processing sector. This provides a unique opportunity to connect interested tourism and hospitality employees with employment opportunities in agriculture. Producers and processors can post their job vacancies on the job board for free there.

B.C. Farm, Fish & Food Job Connector – Make a connection with the BC Farm, Fish and Food Job Connector which puts employers in touch with job seekers interested in agriculture, seafood and food processing careers.